Discussion
Hello,
I fancy a bit of tinkering over Christmas period. I won an auction on eBay for the following frame, forks and headset. I'm not sure what the bike was originally, could have been anything, but I like the paintjob and I remember seeing them in the Holdsworth shop on the Lower Richmond Road in Putney in the 70's when I was growing up. It has struck an evocative chord with me, so I knew I had to buy it. Getting it delivered later this week. Paid £74 for it - I'm quite pleased. .
I was to build it up as a 'very occasional' bike. This is really n+1+1 - wholly unnecessary whilst at the same time being wholly necessary.
I don't want to spend a fortune building it up, but at the same time I don't want it to look like tat. I would like to use Camap components, but want to be tight on budget. I have trauled through eBay last night and there's a lot of retro kit for sale which I think is way overpriced. I was thinking about buying another complete bike from roughly the same era stripping the components off and putting them on the Holdsworth. I simply want the bike to look nice, ride well and enjoy it without spending more than a couple of hundred more on the other bits. Any thoughts / ideas on how this can be achieved? Or if anyone has done somthing similar I'd be interested to know where they sourced components from.
I fancy a bit of tinkering over Christmas period. I won an auction on eBay for the following frame, forks and headset. I'm not sure what the bike was originally, could have been anything, but I like the paintjob and I remember seeing them in the Holdsworth shop on the Lower Richmond Road in Putney in the 70's when I was growing up. It has struck an evocative chord with me, so I knew I had to buy it. Getting it delivered later this week. Paid £74 for it - I'm quite pleased. .
I was to build it up as a 'very occasional' bike. This is really n+1+1 - wholly unnecessary whilst at the same time being wholly necessary.
I don't want to spend a fortune building it up, but at the same time I don't want it to look like tat. I would like to use Camap components, but want to be tight on budget. I have trauled through eBay last night and there's a lot of retro kit for sale which I think is way overpriced. I was thinking about buying another complete bike from roughly the same era stripping the components off and putting them on the Holdsworth. I simply want the bike to look nice, ride well and enjoy it without spending more than a couple of hundred more on the other bits. Any thoughts / ideas on how this can be achieved? Or if anyone has done somthing similar I'd be interested to know where they sourced components from.
I rebuilt an old bike a few months ago. Managed to rescue many of the components from what was already there, maybe you can do the same. Main jobs I did was strip and replace bearings. I made a big mistake there, I thought the local bearing shop would be cheaper than the LBS. I learned later, that is not the case. OK, bearings may be of better quality, but its dead easy to strip and replace them if I need to.
burriana's comments about a fixie are interesting. i am not trendy enough to have a fixie, nor do i have the genetic mutation which makes some people believe them to be safe. however, as this is an occasional pub bike, a single speed might be the answer. nice and clean, simple cabling and about as complex as i could manage for now. i can always do more later. have found a site called singlespeedcomponents.co.uk which seems to have most of the stuff i want at a sensible price. less is more on this bike i feel. might go to town with a nice saddle, we'll see....
having looked into this though i have now developed an OCD about the designs of brakes levers, brakes callipers and cranksets.
having looked into this though i have now developed an OCD about the designs of brakes levers, brakes callipers and cranksets.
Rob_T said:
burriana's comments about a fixie are interesting. i am not trendy enough to have a fixie...
The word "fixie" never passed my lips. I have no desire to ride a cross between a fairy and a pixie! 
The trendy types might ride such things but, died in the wool, good old fashioned cyclists have been riding fixed wheel bikes for decades. The beauty is their lightness and simplicity. They also help strengthen legs through winter and, can be a lot of fun
burriana said:
Rob_T said:
burriana's comments about a fixie are interesting. i am not trendy enough to have a fixie...
The word "fixie" never passed my lips. I have no desire to ride a cross between a fairy and a pixie! The trendy types might ride such things but, died in the wool, good old fashioned cyclists have been riding fixed wheel bikes for decades. The beauty is their lightness and simplicity. They also help strengthen legs through winter and, can be a lot of fun
There is a certain satisfaction in having the right gear for less than 0.5% of any given ride. It's a bit like when you catch a "peacher" right off the sweets spot of your driver and the ball just zings away down the middle of the fairway. Hardly ever happens, but all the better for it when it does so.
indeed, i saw these at the birmingham cycle show and was the inspiration behind the purchase. i was tempted to just buy one at the show, but really couldn't justify spending the money on that. hence when this frame popped up on ebay i thought i could build up something that was similar for much much less. i'm quite looking forward to it. i hope the frame won't disappoint when it is delivered on thursday!
Update for those who are interested.
My ebay frame for £74 was delivered a few days ago, so have now been hunting down components for the build. Originally was going to have it a a road bike with standard derailleurs. Then considered a single speed for the elegant simplicity.
Have subsequently decided to combine the two by having a hub gear system so am fitting Shimano Alfine 8 speed hub:
The chainset will be a Sturmey Archer 44T ring:
This will give it a good look and feel (I hope). The ratios that I'll achieve are within a few % points of what I have on my commuter which currently doubles up as my winter trainer so I know I'll be able to manage 15% climbs with no problem whilst still having a good top gear for the flats.
For the wheels I have gone Mavic Open Pro:
Have a decent BB (can't remember what it is through - the LBS are sourcing this for me.
Also bought a nice handlebar and quill stem System Ex I think they are:
Finally have also purchased a Selle Monte Grappa as a cheap alternative to a Brooks:
Also bought a nice set of brake levers.Will take off the cross brake bit probably:
Now the intention was to build this myself. However when I woke up in my cold bath I realised that was never going to happen. So all components are going to get shipped to the LBS for assembly. That way it will get done before the end of the universe and it will also get done properly.
Not a cheap build, but hopefully the results will be worth it.
Will update as build takes shape.
My ebay frame for £74 was delivered a few days ago, so have now been hunting down components for the build. Originally was going to have it a a road bike with standard derailleurs. Then considered a single speed for the elegant simplicity.
Have subsequently decided to combine the two by having a hub gear system so am fitting Shimano Alfine 8 speed hub:
The chainset will be a Sturmey Archer 44T ring:
This will give it a good look and feel (I hope). The ratios that I'll achieve are within a few % points of what I have on my commuter which currently doubles up as my winter trainer so I know I'll be able to manage 15% climbs with no problem whilst still having a good top gear for the flats.
For the wheels I have gone Mavic Open Pro:
Have a decent BB (can't remember what it is through - the LBS are sourcing this for me.
Also bought a nice handlebar and quill stem System Ex I think they are:
Finally have also purchased a Selle Monte Grappa as a cheap alternative to a Brooks:
Also bought a nice set of brake levers.Will take off the cross brake bit probably:
Now the intention was to build this myself. However when I woke up in my cold bath I realised that was never going to happen. So all components are going to get shipped to the LBS for assembly. That way it will get done before the end of the universe and it will also get done properly.
Not a cheap build, but hopefully the results will be worth it.
Will update as build takes shape.
the bike has now been built up. i had wanted to do this myself and do it very inexpensively. that hasn't happened - i got the LBS to build it up with parts i had sourced. the benefit is that it has been done properly (apart from a poor-ish bit of craftsmanship on putting the handlebar tape on).
i took it for a 14 mile test ride in the chilterns on sunday and am very pleased. i've not ridden a steel frame before and it really was a smooth ride - a very pleasurable experience. the hub gears work extremely well and the 8 gears it has are plenty for the terrain that the ride threw at me. i'll go for a longer ride this weekend but there's no problem with the range on offer. i have a bar end shifter which take a little getting used to but is quite a satisfying click. the change itself is very smooth. it's a shame the hub is so heavy, but again you get used to it very quickly. one problem i did face were with the brakes - although i didn't realise this until i got home. i was struggling to get any speed up - 20mph downhill was hard work, the flats were tough. then i realised the brakes had seized onto the rims, so i was effectively riding with the brakes on. D'oh! a quick spanner adjustment sorted that out!
aside from that i am really happy with it - probably more than my venge because it is such a nice smooth ride. it's certainly not a fast bike, more a comfortable ride around.
pic below don't really do it justice, but you get the idea of what it looks like. i'm please i went for the hub gear - it keeps the look of the bike clean and simple.
i took it for a 14 mile test ride in the chilterns on sunday and am very pleased. i've not ridden a steel frame before and it really was a smooth ride - a very pleasurable experience. the hub gears work extremely well and the 8 gears it has are plenty for the terrain that the ride threw at me. i'll go for a longer ride this weekend but there's no problem with the range on offer. i have a bar end shifter which take a little getting used to but is quite a satisfying click. the change itself is very smooth. it's a shame the hub is so heavy, but again you get used to it very quickly. one problem i did face were with the brakes - although i didn't realise this until i got home. i was struggling to get any speed up - 20mph downhill was hard work, the flats were tough. then i realised the brakes had seized onto the rims, so i was effectively riding with the brakes on. D'oh! a quick spanner adjustment sorted that out!
aside from that i am really happy with it - probably more than my venge because it is such a nice smooth ride. it's certainly not a fast bike, more a comfortable ride around.
pic below don't really do it justice, but you get the idea of what it looks like. i'm please i went for the hub gear - it keeps the look of the bike clean and simple.
Great job on that!
I seen this thread a couple of days ago and it gave me a bit of inspiration today when I was offered an old Bianchi for £50. I'd have normally said "No thanks!"
I hope I can get it up to that sort of standard.
How do you find the bar-end shifters? Mine are on the downtube and it feels like my eyes are off the road for ages when changing gear!
I seen this thread a couple of days ago and it gave me a bit of inspiration today when I was offered an old Bianchi for £50. I'd have normally said "No thanks!"
I hope I can get it up to that sort of standard.
How do you find the bar-end shifters? Mine are on the downtube and it feels like my eyes are off the road for ages when changing gear!
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